J.C.'s Review
The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Daily Double - March 27-28, 2010
The South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center and the South Milwaukee High School campus were jumping this past Sunday! Not one, but two seventy-fifth anniversary musical performances plus a really well run and well attended color guard clinic were packed into a single action packed Sunday afternoon. The 75th anniversary performances of both the South Milwaukee Municipal Band, and the Kilties Drum and Bugle Corps were greeted by wonderful ovations from the large crowd in attendance. As it turns out, both organizations are celebrating their 75th anniversaries in 2010, so it was extremely cool to be able to share these significant milestones! The Kilties’ performance was not only our 2010 debut performance, it was also the climax our indoor rehearsal schedule and it sets us up nicely as we head outdoors in April to put “A Night at the Opera” on the field.
We began our weekend at Gilmore Middle School in Racine. As always, Kiltie breakfast was followed 10AM stretch in the gym culminating in our customary “shakey shake” wrist warm-ups led by our two tiara-clad birthday girls / bass drummers Katie Nielsen and Megan Hobbs. Looking good girls!
After stretch, the guard headed to the cafeteria, the pit convened for musical warm ups, and the rest of the corps marched around the gym until our legs were bloody stumps…Well, maybe not quite bloody stumps, but pretty close. After the final seemingly eternal “figure 8 – star – stop sign – figure 8 – star” drill was complete, Bobby Lindsey dismissed us to music rehearsals. We were all huffing and puffing a bit, which is good. Basics blocks should be a workout this time of year. It helps get us in shape for the summer.
At 11:30, 2010 brass arranger Rick Kirby fronted brass warm-ups in the cafeteria. We spent some time on our non-field show repertoire beginning with work on concert piece “Water is Wide”. Then we worked our parade version of “Auld Lang Syne” and parade tune “Scotland the Brave”. This took us all the way to 1:30 lunch. The rest of the day was spent polishing field show music, culminating in a full ensemble session in the theatre to cap the day.
With the help of risers for the various battery members, the full percussion section was squeezed onto the Gilmore theatre stage. The brass line occupied the area in front of the stage, with the contra bass section on risers behind the rest of the horn line which stretched elbow to elbow / wall to wall. This was as close to our Sunday performance setup as we could get given the space constraints of the smaller Gilmore theatre.
We worked our entire planned Sunday performance, paying close attention to details such as defining horns-up and horns-down timing. We led off with “Water is Wide”, and it came off with only one release-glitch which we clarified in a second run of that portion of the piece. The parade repertoire was performed without a hitch, as was Movement I of the field show. We ran Movement 2 twice. The first time through wasn’t bad, but it was even better the second time around. A single run of Movement 3 capped the evening and left us primed for a great Sunday performance.
At the end of the evening Scott Stewart pulled the corps together and told us he was very pleased with where we are at. We are performing at a higher level than we were at this time last year, and we have a chance to be improved in every section of the corps. We just need to continue working hard and having fun doing it. Sounds like a recipe for success if I’ve ever heard one.
Sunday morning found the Kilties assembling at South Milwaukee High School for the Kiltie-sponsored color guard clinic, music rehearsal and our debut performance. We were all somewhat in awe of the wonderful facilities! South Milwaukee High School is nothing short of a top-notch facility in all aspects. We had breakfast in the cafeteria and then headed off to the field house for stretch and marching basics. The large field house has a raised, second-story indoor track that is open to the public on weekends, so local joggers and walkers watched with curiosity as we capped off our stretch session with a soprano section-led rendition of “shakey-shakes”. With the exception of lead soprano soloist Caroline Cates, it was without a doubt the ugliest gaggle of “shakey-shakers” in the history of “shakey shakes”.
After stretch, the guard headed back to the cafeteria to meet and greet all of the members of the South Milwaukee High School Rocket Marching Band color guard that were beginning to show up for the clinic. The percussion section headed off to the Performing Arts Center and various band rooms for musical warm up. Meanwhile, the brass line remained in the field house which afforded ample room for a full 16 step version of the “figure 8 – star – stop sign – figure 8 – star” drill. This, too, elicited curiosity from the jogging / walking public looking down from above, especially when the drilling was accompanied by the blaring strains of “Some Day Love Will Find You” by “Journey” (I think). As I think back, I owe the corps 30 push-ups for the “my-bads” I contributed. My level of embarrassment is only exceeded by my level of determination to redeem myself in the future.
After basics, the brass line headed to one of the numerous music rooms on campus for warm-ups followed by a full music ensemble session in the Performing Arts Center. This great facility features a 42 foot wide by 49 foot deep stage area in a 786 seat acoustically tuned theatre w/ 15-piece Wenger sound shell. I thought the acoustics were fantastic for drum corps and there didn’t look to be a bad seat in the house. We ran each performance piece and listened to staff comments while the theatre staff experimented with spot lighting and ETC lighting console settings for our performance. Very cool!
In the mean time, color guard caption head Angie Klingenmeyer and the rest of the Kiltie guard were busy with the free guard clinic in the field house. Angie went over equipment work and body movement basics as Kiltie guard members demonstrated and helped the Rocket guard members learn the techniques. All things guard were covered, and it was all topped off with a great pizza buffet lunch and social in the cafeteria. The clinic was extremely well received, and the Kilties have a whole bunch of new fans (and perspective future members) as a result! Thanks Angie and Kiltie guard members!
Lunch for brass and percussion was from 1:30-2:45. It afforded ample time to eat, relax, polish our equipment, socialize with the many Kiltie alumni and fans that were beginning to trickle in, and get dressed (we all wore black shirts, jeans and no hats for the performance).
At 3PM, the South Milwaukee Municipal Band took the stage and presented a reflective musical journey through their 75 year history, highlighted by marches from the various periods of their existence, as well as touching on the early jazz era, and a few popular patriotic selections. I was really bummed that I didn’t get a chance to see their performance. Everyone that I talked to said it was fantastic!
After the curtains closed on the Municipal Band, our percussion section got busy setting up the stage for our full corps performance, while the brass section assembled at the rear entrances of the theatre in preparation for our performance. To fill the time, the audience was treated to a wonderful solo marimba performance by veteran Kiltie percussionist Anna Hyatt. This was followed by a fantastic snare / quad percussion duet performed by Kiltie percussion staff members Scott Pearson (tenor) and Tym Healey (snare). Then Kiltie contra and multiple DCA baritone solo champion Pat Buzzard performed one of his winning baritone solo pieces. All of these performances were met with great receptions! I’m really glad that the brass line got to cheer on our fellow Kilties from the rear theatre entrances while we were waiting to take the stage.
Then the curtains opened to reveal the Kiltie percussion section on tiered risers. The brass line entered from the rear of the theatre and took our position in front of the percussion from stage-left and stage-right. I looked out from the stage and was delighted to see a nice crowd of well almost 500 in the seats. After Scott Stewart introduced the corps, Drum Major Tim Hummel took the podium and conducted “Water is Wide” which I thought was well performed and well received. Then we performed our classic parade repertoire: “Flammables” street beat – Roll-off – “Auld Lang Syne”
“Flammables” street beat – Roll-off – “Scotland the Brave”
What Kiltie fan can resist these classics!
Scott Stewart then took the stage and introduced the 2010 field show “A Night at the Opera”. Movement I which is a concatenation of “Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner and “William Tell Overture” by Gioachino Rossini went well. I thought it got stronger as we went with William Tell absolutely cooking! Performance quality-wise, I thought Movement II, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Freddie Mercury was kind of a repeat of Movement I; solid, and it got stronger as it went along. I felt like Movement III, “Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint-Saëns was our strongest piece top to bottom performance-wise. The ending is so “in your face” and full of energy that it draws you out of your seat and kinda forces classic drum corps fans to throw babies, as proven by the response that it elicited on this day. It felt so good to stand there after the final power chord and horn snap and soak it all in. Drum corps fans are going to love it!
We capped our performance with the traditional playing of “Slow Syne”. Looking out at this audience that included so many Kiltie alumni while playing “Slow Syne” made me think of how cool it is to be a part of the Kilties on our 75th anniversary. It made me wish I could tell all of the alumni how proud we all are to be Kilties, and how hard we are going to work to make them proud of us this season. The next 75 years are off to a great start!
WWBD!
J.C.
P.S. Special thanks to Bobby Lindsey for procuring the great South Milwaukee facilities and coordinating the performances. Bobby and his son Josh did double duty performing with both the Kilties and the South Milwaukee Municipal Band. Bobby also did a great job of co-emceeing the event. You da man, Bobby!!!
P.S.S. We are still looking for one lower soprano, one lower baritone, and one keyboard player to round out the 2010 Kilties. Experienced guard will not be turned away at this point either. Now’s your chance to be a part of something big!
